A formula company recently launched an ad that has received quite a bit of buzz. It addresses the so-called “mommy wars” and reminds us that at the end of the day, we all want our kids to be safe and happy.
In our family, Daddy-o happens to be from the other side of the planet, so most of our holidays involve long and expensive trips with our biggie-sized family. The most difficult trip involved 21 hours of air travel when I was five weeks out of my fifth C-section. When you have five children and your oldest is six, you mostly try to block these experiences from memory.
People often make big fancy plans when organizing a family holiday. Parents want to see their kids at theme parks dressed as princesses, or racing down a waterslide on a swanky cruise ship, or perhaps soaking in the fun of an all-inclusive resort. All these things sound fabulous, but I’m currently at a family farm in Australia and if you have not done a farm stay before, consider putting it on your holiday wish list. You don’t have to go to Australia to do it – farms are everywhere, and it’s great for kids to see where their food comes from.
I can only describe the last month as a complete whirlwind. I spent September warning family, friends, and whoever would listen that I was heading into a VERY full month of travel for work.
Love the idea of a big family? There are definitely many, many bonuses to having a big brood. But there are also a few things you just shouldn’t expect. For example:
It’s time for us to retire the word “busy." We’re all busy. Everyone is busy, and we all have busy lives. Work is busy, our schedules are busy, our kids are busy, and our partners are busy. Yeah, we get it.
Daddy-o recently expressed that he was concerned we were going to lose some of our family traditions. He was worried that we had very distinct traditions in place when our biggies were small, but now that the biggies are losing a bit of interest, the small kids may be missing out.
Halloween is upon us and one of the common complaints you hear about this holiday is that some trick-or-treaters are too old to be knocking on doors looking for goodies.
To this, I say: Get over it.
I have to admit, I have a long history of being afraid of teenagers. They have opinions, sometimes dress funny, have coloured hair and their hormones make them seem like strange and mysterious creatures. But now, I am the mother of one of these creatures and guess what — he’s not that scary after all.
I owe dog owners everywhere an apology. I admit to rolling my eyes and thinking, “Really? It’s just a dog!” whenever you shared photos and stories about your pup.
Nine years ago, I bought a cottage with my siblings. For all of those years, I have enjoyed it thoroughly. OK, I’m kind of lying – for all those years, all it represented to me was a lot of hard work. Bringing babies and toddlers to a cottage is challenging – it’s all of the work of home, without any of the conveniences. Kids in strange beds, no safety guards around the lake and – in our case – no electricity. You can imagine how stressful it is when you have a bed-wetter or a puke fest ensues and there is no washing machine in sight.
